Americans United - pelosihttps://www.au.org/tags/pelosi
enLost Weekend: Religious Right Seeks Two-Day Ten Commandments Confabhttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/lost-weekend-religious-right-seeks-two-day-ten-commandments-confab
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The Ten Commandments are not the source of American law.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Gas is inching up to $4 per gallon, rice has doubled in price, home foreclosures continue to spiral and more than 80 percent of Americans think the country is on the wrong track.</p>
<p>What's to be done? According to the Religious Right, it's time for a Ten Commandments Weekend!</p>
<p>Bill Murray, chairman, founder and possibly the only member of something called the Religious Freedom Coalition, is carping because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid won't schedule a vote on a resolution authorizing a Ten Commandments Weekend that lauds the Decalogue as the source of our country's laws.</p>
<p>"But with Nancy Pelosi in charge of the House and Harry Reid in charge of the Senate, we can't have a voice," <a href="http://onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=112790">Murray groused to One News Now</a>. "We can't get these out and open and celebrate the Ten Commandments."</p>
<p>Why not? If members of Murray's church want to celebrate the Commandments and erect them for all to see, no one's going to stop them. He could even stick them up in his back yard or make tiny versions into paperweights. Be creative. Knock yourself out, Bill.</p>
<p>But that's never enough for these Religious Right types. They seem to think that if the government doesn't get in on the act, it doesn't count. Will people really value the Commandments more because the House and Senate direct them to?</p>
<p>I can think of two reasons why Pelosi and Reid might be unwilling to spend much time on this matter. One, the resolution is dishonest. The Ten Commandments are not the source of American law. Our laws were informed by many sources – Roman, Byzantine, the Napoleonic Code, European Common Law, etc. Many of these systems of law had religious components, but those features long ago were discarded in America, where separation of church and state is the law of the land.</p>
<p>Thus, in this country, you can worship a "false" god, make graven images to your heart's content, ignore the Sabbath, be jealous of your neighbor's cool stuff, diss your mother and father and take the Lord's name in vain. The commandments that are reflected in our laws are common-sense things that all orderly societies ban: perjury, stealing, killing.</p>
<p>Secondly, Congress has probably shelved this resolution because it's a waste of time. There are more pressing things to deal with. Polls show Americans are worried about the economy, their jobs, gas prices, home mortgages and so on. The polls don't show people clamoring for a Ten Commandments Weekend.</p>
<p>The obsessions of the Religious Right don't make for good public policy. They are frequently parochial concerns that would either encourage government to impose a religious agenda or "symbolic" acts that have the effect of telling some Americans that they are little more than second-class citizens.</p>
<p>Leaders of Congress used to spend a lot of time tossing these bones to Murray and his ilk. They are no longer doing so, much to the benefit of our nation. Get over it, Bill.</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/fighting-religious-right">Fighting the Religious Right</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/religious-mottos-pledges-and-resolutions-outside-schools">Religious Mottos, Pledges and Resolutions (outside schools)</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/pelosi">pelosi</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/reid">reid</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ten-commandaments">ten commandaments</a></span></div></div>Tue, 13 May 2008 14:53:40 +0000Rob Boston1872 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/lost-weekend-religious-right-seeks-two-day-ten-commandments-confab#comments